Friday, 1 February 2019

Temporary Bride by Arabella Sheen - Weekly Excerpt 4

Max Jordan is one of America’s most powerful, leading corporate lawyers. He is also the major stockholder and head of the billion-dollar corporation - Jordan Diamond Empire.

Max must marry soon to keep the business safe and the company secure from a takeover.

Returning to England in search of the only woman he knows and trusts to help him in his moment of need - he tracks Amy down and asks her to marry him.

Amy Denver wants nothing to do with Max Jordan . . . and she certainly wants nothing to do with his marriage proposal. Five painful years have passed since Max disappeared from her life and a lot has happened to her in between. Amy has a secret she’d rather he didn’t discover . . . her secret is Jake . . . their son. Once again Amy finds herself surrendering to Max and his demands as he whisks her and Jake off to Waterfront, his private, secluded home in the Hamptons.

Also by the Author

Castell's Passion

Temporary Bride

Blinded by Desire

“You two know each other?” James asked. He was somewhat taken aback.

“Amy and I go way back,” Max explained and he raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Amy felt a blush of embarrassment covering her face and it was there for all to see.

Max was still holding her hand and she knew he could feel her body trembling. She was shaking from head to toe, dreading what was about to come.

Max Jordan wasn’t supposed to be here.

He was supposed to be out of her life. He was supposed to be somewhere on the other side of the world . . . not here in England.

Feeling fenced in she began to panic. She had to get away from him. She felt she couldn’t stay there a moment longer.

Sensing Amy was about to make a run for it, Max gripped and held her tightly against his side. Now that he’d found her he wasn’t letting go.

“What? You two know each other? Amy, you dark horse,” James said. “You could have warned us you knew Max.”

She was frantically denying the fact that she knew Max. Looking around the room she was trying to convince everyone that she was telling the truth.

“We were only briefly acquainted,” she explained. “And I never really knew him . . .”

And then she said something unforgivable. “And I don’t need . . . and I don’t want to know him now.”

She heard a sharp intake of air as Max drew in his breath through clenched teeth.

It seemed she had hit a nerve.

She had gone too far and, although she was dismayed at what she had unthinkingly said, she couldn’t and wouldn’t take the words back.

They were true.

She had never really known the true Max and she didn’t want to know him now. She had too much too lose by knowing him. She was aiming to avoid Max at all costs.

“You always did have a reputation of saying what you thought,” Max said smiling.

“Oh, so now I have a reputation. And what sort of reputation would that be Mr Jordan? A ruined reputation?”

Max heard the sarcasm dripping from her tongue and he made a face as if she had just wounded him deeply.

What right did he have to look at her like that? She was the injured party. Not him.

She desperately wanted to leave and get away but she couldn’t. With the room full of lawyers waiting for her to start the meeting, there was no chance of an immediate escape.

She had no other option. She was forced to stay.

Max was still holding her against his side and discreetly she started tugging away from him until reluctantly he had to release her. As their contact was broken she felt his energy draining from her.

“Ladies and gentlemen please be seated . . .” Max was taking command of the meeting. “I believe we’re to have a presentation followed by a discussion,” he said. “If everyone’s here . . . shall we proceed?”

On shaky legs and with some difficulty, Amy went over to the hologram projector and started operating the high-tech equipment.

She gave the opening speech flawlessly and when her presentation of the facts had ended the senior partners took over. Then they started getting down to the nitty-gritty.

When discussions finished it was unanimously decided Max was the best man to represent both sides of the Atlantic. He was the lawyer who was going to present the case to the English and American judicial systems. He was the man for the job.

With everyone anticipating a long, complicated, legal battle that could take months of court appearances and high powered negotiations, concerns were voiced about the amount of travelling Max would have to do. But Max shrugged off their worries telling them travel wasn’t a problem for him.

As Max began closing the meeting he stood up to address the group.

“Well . . . that seems to be it,” he told them. “I believe we’ve covered the most urgent points on the agenda and I’d like to say thanks for giving me such a warm welcome to Martin and Campbell earlier. I think I now have some insight into how things work here and where to go if I’m in trouble . . . and as I’m always in trouble you’ll probably be seeing a lot of me.”

There was a burst of shared laughter from his audience.

“Officially I’m not one of the team . . . but at some point, I shall probably need one of you to help me with my legal work when I’m in England. I’d like someone who knows the ropes and can organise me . . . someone who can do the legwork so to speak.”

Someone at the back of the room mumbled something and a chuckle of agreement came from various staff members.

“Amy has great legs . . .”

Max had heard what was said and Amy saw his lips curve into a grin of agreement.

Didn’t the man miss anything?

Max was waiting expectantly for someone to volunteer and then he said, “Someone has just kindly suggested Amy and, if there are no objections, I’d like Amy to work with me whilst I’m here.”

“Who wouldn’t want Amy?” It was the same voice and everyone laugh again.

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About Me

Arabella Sheen is a British author of Contemporary and Historical Romance. Shortlisted for the Joan Hessayon Award 2017 and a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, she is published with Beachwalk Press.Arabella likes nothing more than the challenge of a blank page, and starting a new novel with romantic plots and interesting characters with whom her readers can share some stolen moments.

One of the many things Arabella loves to do is to read. And when she's not reading or writing modern romantic novels she is either on her allotment sowing and planting with the seasons, or she is pandering to the demands of her attention seeking cat.

Having worked and lived in the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands for nearly twenty years, she now lives in the south-west of England with her family.

As well as developing and promoting her writing career, she also works in a busy international hotel where she meets lots of interesting people from various parts of the world.

From some of the people she encounters, she often gains inspiration and ideas to incorporate into her contemporary romance novels.

Arabella hopes her readers have as much pleasure from her happy -ever-afterebooks and paperbacks, as she has in writing them.